Harry Boyer

University of La Réunion · Laboratory of Physics and Mathematical Engineering for Energy and the Environment (PIMENT)

A lot of software exists to simulate indoor daylighting and/or electrical lighting. There are generally classified into two categories: software dedicated to research and commercial software (usually dedicated to consulting firms and individuals). The first software category prefers to use computer codes and high performance physical models (which...

Les conduits de lumière de type MLP (Mirrored Light Pipe) permettent de transporter et de distribuer de la lumière naturelle dans des pièces sombres éloignées des ouvertures traditionnelles. Ils offrent l'avantage de réduire au minimum la perte de lumière, tout en limitant la transmission de chaleur. Ils font partie de la catégorie des convoyeurs à...

T.D.G.S., "Tubular Daylight Guidance Systems", are natural lighting processes based on the transport of light. In 1990, they were judged by Littlefair as the most innovative technology in daylighting [1]. From 1982 to 2020, this paper is a state of the art on the different processes of tubular daylight guide systems. The keywords used to carry out...

T.D.G.S., “Tubular Daylight Guidance Systems”, are natural lighting processes based on the transport of light. In 1990, they were judged by Littlefair as the most innovative technology in daylighting [1]. From 1982 to 2020, this paper is a state of the art on the different processes of tubular daylight guide systems. The key words used to carry out...

The "VCP Lsa" is a specific kind of green-roof specially developed for light-weight structures with steep slopes under tropical climates. The "VCP Lsa" acronym stands for Vegetalized Complex Partition type Ligneous over Structure and Air gap. Comparatively to a traditional extensive green roof the VCP Lsa is easy to install and allows to reach an h...

This paper focuses on the part of Tubular Daylight Guide Systems (TDGS): the Mirrored Light-Pipe (MLP). MLP is part of the multiple specular reflection conveyors. They allow daylight to be transported and distributed in dark rooms far from traditional openings while limiting heat transmission. It involves collecting, concentrating, and diffusing su...

Windows are central in architecture and they play a significant role in the energy consumption of buildings, particularly in hot climates, where overheating is a critical issue. Innovative glazing technologies, like thermochromic (TC) glazing, could help to overcome those issues. This article aims to identify both the influence and the importance o...

Windows are central in architecture and they play a significant role in the energy consumption of buildings, particularly in hot climates, where overheating is a critical issue. Innovative glazing technologies, like thermochromic (TC) glazing, could help to overcome those issues. This article aims to identify both the influence and the importance o...

Windows are central in architecture and they play a significant role in the energy consumption of buildings, particularly in hot climates, where overheating is a critical issue. Innovative glazing technologies, like thermochromic (TC) glazing, could help to overcome those issues. This article aims to identify both the influence and the importance o...

Nowadays, given the high cost of an experimental phase and to validate the developed models, the calculator is used by more and more researchers. However, experimentation is a major step to validate any model. To get some accurate data, the devices must be efficient. That is why their prices is very expensive. To overcome this problem, researchers...

This paper deals with lightweight building simulation with phase change material on the North and the South walls. Givoni bioclimatic chart is used in order to compare results from study with and without phase change material. The results clearly show that the use of phase change material has a positive effect on inside air temperature thermal comf...

Daylight offers many possibilities. Its proper use is a major asset to develop the design, energy and environmental quality of a building but also improve the physiological and psychological conditions of the user. New emerging devices, offer the opportunity to improve visual comfort while, providing energy savings. The light pipes are considered a...

In a concerning global energy context, the construction industry must be able to respond both in terms of energy management and the comfort of its buildings’ occupants. In this context, innovative devices using daylighting can provide an obvious answer. The Tubular Devices Guide Systems (TDGS) are innovative daylighting processes based on light tra...

Les dispositifs d’éclairage naturel innovants constituent des procédés techniques à haute performance énergétique, pouvant être avantageusement utilisés dans le bâtiment, en particulier à l’échelle locale où le gisement solaire extérieur est très abondant. L’objectif de la thèse est d’étudier le comportement de composants complexes du type vitrages...

The use of phase change materials (PCMs) as a building integrated thermal storage may contribute to improving building energy performances. This article focuses on the integration of PCMs in the roof with a non-ventilated air layer, in order to assess thermal performances of a dedicated test cell, especially for thermal comfort. An experimental equ...

This paper deals with the empirical validation of a building thermal model using a phase change material (PCM) in a complex roof. A mathematical model dedicated to phase change materials based on the heat apparent capacity method was implemented in a multi-zone building simulation code, the aim being to increase understanding of the thermal behavio...

This article deals with a new configuration of a complex roof using a phase change material (PCM) installed on a dedicated test cell. For the first time and in field conditions, an experimental device using phase change material was set up at Reunion Island, location having a tropical and humid climate. Results show that in the tested configuration...

CODYRUN is a multi-zone software integrating thermal building simulation, airflow, and pollutant transfer. A first question thus arose as to the integration of indoor lighting conditions into the simulation, leading to a new model calculating natural and artificial lighting. The results of this new daylighting module were then compared with results...

Ce poster présente les travaux de thèse de Bruno Malet-Damour initiés en novembre 2012. Sa thèse traite de la modélisation des phénomènes physiques liés à l'éclairement. Plus précisément, le sujet s'oriente vers la prédiction des performances de dispositifs innovants tels que les conduits de lumière. Ce procédé est couramment installé sur les bâtim...

Buildings in Reunion Island have different thermal performances so the thermal energy storage should be enhanced. Using phase change materials in the building envelope could be a solution. These materials are able to increase the low thermal mass of lightweight constructions in order to improve human comfort, maintaining the building ambient therma...

CODYRUN is a multi-zone software integrating thermal building simulation, airflow, and pollutant transfer. Described in numerous publications, this software was originally used for the passive designof buildings, both for research and teaching purposes.In this context, the datatreatedwere mainly concerned with volumes (zones), surfaces andthickness...

The light pipes are innovative devices able to transport and distribute natural light without heat transfer in dark rooms. There are a lot of natural lighting applications able to predict the behaviour of light in a room through a traditional opening. Only few of them are able to model complex systems such as daylight guidance systems. Added to thi...

This paper deals with the thermal performances of roof-mounted radiant barriers. Using dynamic simulations of a mathematical model of a whole test cell including a radiant barrier installed between the roof top and the ceiling, the thermal performance of the roof is calculated. The mean method is more particularly used to assess the thermal resista...

In building studies dealing about energy efficiency and comfort, simulation software need relevant weather files with optimal time steps. Few tools generate extreme and mean values of simultaneous hourly data including correlation between the climatic parameters. This paper presents the C++ Runeole software based on typical weather sequences analys...

RÉSUMÉ Cet article traite de la possibilité d'utiliser un code de calcul spécialisé en thermique du bâtiment (CODYRUN) comme capteur logiciel, notion issue de l'observation d'état. Basée sur l'assimilation de données et la vérification expérimentale, l'approche particulière proposée permet de modéliser une paroi multicouche en vue de vérifier les p...

Conception et validation d’un dispositif experimental dédié à la simulation solaire Figure 1 (reconstitution artificielle de l’azimut et de la hauteur du soleil); puis application du système dans le cas d’une étude en thermique du bâtiment.

Dans le secteur du bâtiment, le stockage de l'énergie thermique est un enjeu primordial. C'est dans cet objectif que les matériaux à changement de phase (MCP) ont émergé pour renforcer l'inertie thermique des bâtiments à structures légères et pour les permettre d'atteindre de hautes performances énergétiques. Dans cet optique, cet article présente...

Les conduits de lumière de type MLP (Mirrored Light Pipe) permettent de transporter et de distribuer de la lumière naturelle dans des pièces sombres éloignées des ouvertures traditionnelles. Ils offrent l’avantage de réduire au minimum la perte de lumière, tout en limitant la transmission de chaleur. Ils font partie de la catégorie des convoyeurs à...

This article deals with a numerical model of the thermal behavior of a building roof equipped with phase change materials (PCM). The study puts in evidence the first results of the proposed model based on the apparent heat capacity method. A backward Euler scheme and a finite difference discretization method have been used. The model was integrated...

This paper deals with new proposals for the design of passive solutions adapted to the climate of the highlands of Madagascar. While the strongest population density is located in the central highlands, the problem of thermal comfort in buildings occurs mainly during winter time. Currently, people use raw wood to warm the poorly designed houses. Th...

This article deals with the optimization and validation of a thermal model of photovoltaic panels integrated to buildings. The PV thermal model is implemented in the building simulation code ISOLAB and have already been the subject of previous works. The optimization is made by using the generic optimization program GenOpt. First, these two program...

Due to the current environmental situation, energy saving has become the leading drive in modern research. Although the residential houses in tropical climate do not use air conditioning to maintain thermal comfort in order to avoid use of electricity. As the thermal comfort is maintained by adequate envelope composition and natural ventilation, th...

Low temperature heating panel systems offer distinctive advantages in terms of thermal comfort and energy consumption, allowing work with low exergy sources. The purpose of this paper is to compare floor, wall, ceiling, and floor-ceiling panel heating systems in terms of energy, exergy and CO2 emissions. Simulation results for each of the analyzed...

This paper presents the coupling of a building thermal simulation code with genetic algorithms (GAs). GAs are randomized search algorithms that are based on the mechanisms of natural selection and genetics. We show that this coupling allows the location of defective sub-models of a building thermal model, i.e. parts of model that are responsible fo...

In order to provide comfort in a low energy consumption building, it is preferable to use natural ventilation rather than HVAC systems. To achieve this, engineers need tools that predict the heat and mass transfer between the building's interior and exterior. This paper presents a method implemented in some building software, and the results are co...

A bioclimatic approach to designing comfortable buildings in hot and humid tropical regions requires, firstly, some preliminary, important work on the building envelope to limit the energy contributions, and secondly, an airflow optimization of the building. For the first step, tools such as nodal or zonal models have been largely implemented. For...

This paper presents a realization of passive construction in Reunion, French Department in the Indian Ocean (southern hemisphere) submitted to a wet tropical climate. Aspects of passive construction were integrated at the design stage and this house does not present additional costs towards classical ones. This project was awarded a prize for archi...

The purpose of our research deals with the description of a methodology for the definition of specific weather sequences and their influence on the energy needs of HVAC system. We'll apply the method on the tropical Reunion Island. The methodological approach based on a detailed analysis of weather sequences leads to a classification of climatic si...

The beginning of this work is the achievement of a design tool, which is a multiple model software called " CODYRUN ", suitable for professionnals and usable by researchers. The original aspect of this software is that the designer has at his disposal a wide panel of choices between different heat transfer models More precisely, it consists in a mu...

The first purpose of our work has been to allow -as far as heat transfer modes, airflow calculation and meteorological data reconstitution are concerned- the integration of diverse interchangeable physical models in a single software tool for professional use, CODYRUN. The designer's objectives, precision requested and calculation time consideratio...

Considering the natural ventilation, the thermal behavior of buildings can be described by a linear time varying model. In this paper, we describe an implementation of model reduction of linear time varying systems. We show the consequences of the model reduction on computing time and accuracy. Finally, we compare experimental measures and simulati...

This paper deals with neural networks modelling of HVAC systems. In order to increase the neural networks performances, a method based on sensitivity analysis is applied. The same technique is also used to compute the relevance of each input. To avoid the prediction errors in dry coil conditions, a metamodel for each capacity is derived from the ne...

This paper deals with the elaboration of global quality standards for natural and low energy cooling in french tropical island buildings. Electric load profiles of tropical islands in developed countries are characterised by morning, midday and evening peaks arising from all year round high power demand in the commercial and residential sectors, mo...

The aim of this paper is to briefly recall heat transfer modes and explain their integration within a software dedicated to building simulation (CODYRUN). Detailed elements of the validation of this software are presented and two applications are finally discussed. One concerns the modeling of a flat plate air collector and the second focuses on th...

Validation of building energy simulation programs is of major interest to both users and modellers. To achieve such a task, it is essential to apply a methodology based on a priori test and empirical validation. A priori test consists in verifying that models embedded in a program and their implementation are correct. this should be achieved before...

In detailled buiding simulation models, airflow modelling and solving are still open and crucial problems, specially in the case of open buildings as encountered in tropical climates. As a consequence, wind speed conditioning indoor thermal comfort or energy needs in case of air conditionning are uneasy to predict. A first part of the problem is th...

This article presents the CODYRUN software developped by University of La R\'eunion. It is a multizone thermal software, with detailled airflow and humidity transfer calculations. One of its specific aspects is that it constitutes a research tool, a design tool used by the lab and professionnals and also a teaching tool. After a presentation of the...

Simulation codes of thermal behaviour could significantly improve housing construction design. Among the existing software, CODYRUN and TRNSYS are calculations codes of different conceptions. CODYRUN is exclusively dedicated to housing thermal behaviour, whereas TRNSYS is more generally used on any thermal system. The purpose of this article is to...

The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the possibility of application or replacement of radiators with low-temperature radiant panels. This paper shows the comparison results of operations of 4 space heating systems: the low-temperature radiant panel system without any additional thermal insulation of external walls (PH-WOI), the low-temperatur...

A simplified model of indoor short wave radiation couplings adapted to multi-zone simulations is proposed, thanks to a simplifying hypothesis and to the introduction of an indoor short wave exchange matrix. The specific properties of this matrix appear useful to quantify the thermal radiation exchanges between the zones separated by windows or larg...

The calculation of airflows is of great importance for detailed building thermal simulation computer codes, these airflows most frequently constituting an important thermal coupling between the building and the outside on one hand, and the different thermal zones on the other. The driving effects of air movement, which are the wind and the thermal...

As part of our efforts to complete the software CODYRUN validation, we chose as test building a block of flats constructed in Reunion Island, which has a humid tropical climate. The sensitivity analysis allowed us to study the effects of both diffuse and direct solar radiation on our model of this building. With regard to the choice and location of...

This paper deals with the experimental evaluation of a roof-mounted multi-reflective radiant barrier (MRRB), installed according to the state of the art, on a dedicated test cell. An existing experimental device was completed with a specific system for the regulation of the airflow rate in the upper air layer included in a typical roof from Reunion...

The paper deals with an empirical validation of a building thermal model. We put the emphasis on sensitivity analysis and on research of inputs/residual correlation to improve our model. In this paper, we apply a sensitivity analysis technique in the frequency domain to point out the more important parameters of the model. Then, we compare measured...

Cited By (since 1996): 13, Export Date: 10 April 2012, Source: Scopus

This paper deals about the presentation of a new software RUNEOLE used to provide weather data in buildings physics. RUNEOLE associates three modules leading to the description, the modelling and the generation of weather data. The first module is dedicated to the description of each climatic variable included in the database. Graphic representatio...

A bioclimatic approach to designing comfortable buildings in hot and humid tropical regions requires, firstly, some preliminary, important work on the building envelope to limit the energy contributions, and secondly, an airflow optimization of the building. For the first step, tools such as nodal or zonal models have been largely implemented. For...

Low temperature heating panel systems offer distinctive advantages in terms of thermal comfort and energy consumption, allowing work with low exergy sources. The purpose of this paper is to compare floor, wall, ceiling, and floor-ceiling panel heating systems in terms of energy, exergy and CO2 emissions. Simulation results for each of the analyzed...

L'objectif des simulations est d'apporter un appui technique à l'équipe de maîtrise d'œuvre du projet pour l'optimisation du confort hygro-thermique et des consommations énergétiques. Les simulations seront effectuées sur les zones de l'Administration et du bâtiment central avec le logiciel CODYRUN et pour deux périodes de l'année (été et hiver). E...

This paper reports a method about artificial lighting simulation. More precisely, we present a case study with software simulation. The software used is 'CODYRUN', a powerful tool developed by the PIMENT laboratory. This software has been developed by the building physics team of the PIMENT laboratory since 1993. It has been completed with a specif...